Thought -

Thought - The first minute is as important as the ninetieth minute.

Warming up will:

• Gradually increase your heart rate
• Increase the flexibility of your muscles, tendons and ligaments
• Improve speed
• Promote faster reactions
• Increase range of movement
• Reduce risk of injury

There are three phases to warming up.

The warm up should begin with exercises involving your whole body, and should last for about 5-10 minutes, depending on the temperature. The aim of this phase is to:

• Raise the temperature of your body
• Raise the temperature of your muscles
• Increase the amount of blood flowing to your muscles

Start off with light jogging (e.g. 2 or 3 slow laps of the pitch) and include some skipping, backwards and sideways running and some arm circling to warm your upper body.

Tip - You should be sweating lightly at the end of this phase and your pulse rate should have risen to about 120 beats per minute before moving onto the next phase.

You should stretch those parts of your body that will be used during your match or training session.

Advice - Hold each stretch for 10 seconds at the point of slight discomfort - relax - then repeat 2 or 3 times.

Warning - Never stretch cold muscles. DON'T BOUNCE.

Include the following stretches in your warm up.

3. SPECIFIC WARM UP                           Take me back to the top of this page

In this phase, which should last for about 5 minutes, the aim is to get ready for the task ahead by performing exercises that are directly related to the effort to be made, be it a match, training, or taking a test.

You should include:

• Bursts of shorter, faster runs (i.e. Running at match speed
• Twists and changes in direction
• Short sprints

Tip - At the end of a warm up you should feel warm rather than hot and be slightly out of breath. At the end of a warm up you should feel warm rather than hot and be slightly out of breath.

If your warm up is in preparation for a match you should aim to complete warming up 10 – 15 minutes prior to the start of the game. Return to the dressing room and keep warm.

If you are warming up to train then off you go.

THEORY v REALITY

All this is fine for those of you refereeing in higher levels of football where there are facilities and the opportunity to warm up properly. But what about local football? What if you do not have a dressing room to return to, or if you do, it is a bus ride away?

Thought –

• Warming up is important at all levels.
• The first minute is as important as the ninetieth in all games.
• Injuries can occur in any match.

Advice –

• Before putting on your boots, run on the spot for 2-3 minutes varying your pace every now and again.
• Perform the stretching exercises.
• Put your boots on, and run onto the centre of the field of play.
• Run to one of the goals to check the nets and then run to the other end including changes in speed and direction as you go.
• Check the nets and run back to the centre circle.

 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WARM DOWN

The "Warm Down" is very much neglected, but it is just as important as the "Warm Up" and should be performed after every training session and match.

Fact - The "Warm Down" is aimed at gradually returning the body to its resting state.

Advice - At the very least, on returning to the dressing room or on the completion of your training, you should repeat the stretching exercises performed as part of the warm up. This helps to prevent muscle stiffness and the onset of muscle soreness that can follow a particularly hard match or training session. At the very least, on returning to the dressing room or on the completion of your training, you should repeat the stretching exercises performed as part of the warm up. This helps to prevent muscle stiffness and the onset of muscle soreness that can follow a particularly hard match or training session.